Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Nursing Research 2378-5586 3 3 2015 12 2 Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Its Effect on Quality of Life among Patients with Diabetes Mellitus 48 53 EN Ozden DEDELI Department of Internal Medicine, Celal Bayar University School of Health, Manisa, Turkey Sezgi CINAR PAKYUZ Ummu KACER DABAN Seda KIPCAK Deniz SARI Emel SENOL Zeliha HEKIMSOY AJNR2015331 10.12691/ajnr-3-3-1 2015 7 8 2015 10 5 2015 11 30 Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms and its effect on quality of life among patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted a university hospital in Manisa, Turkey. Among the diabetic patients who reffered to two internal medicine policlinics, 138 patients were selected randomly. A questionnare has been designed including socio-demographic, medical history about diabetes mellitus (DM), Gastrointestinal Symptom Grading Scale (GSGS) and Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI). Data were expressed as mean±standart deviation (SD). Comparisons between means were carried out using the Mann-Withney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, correlations. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean±SD age of the patients was 49.5±12.9 years (range 18-65 years). The proportion of men in the patients was slightly higher compared with that of women (53.6% vs 46.4%). Of the 138 diabetic patients interviewed, 85.2 percent of patients had type II diabetes. The most common GI symptoms were abdominal distension (71.6%), feeling of incomplete evacuation (70.3%), reflux (60.1%), and constipation (58.7%). GIQLI score was found to be 76.1±25.1 (range 30-127) in the patients with diabetes who participated in this study. There were statistically significant negative correlation between GIQLI score and frequency of GI symptoms (p<0.01). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that patients with diabetes mellitus hold commonly complaint of gastrointestinal symptoms, and gastrointestinal problems can impair well-being and quality of life in diabetes.